Labour and Employment Law Blog

On February 7, 2023, Labour Minister Harry Bains introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for first reading Bill 2, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Act. If passed into law, Bill 2 will recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30) as a public holiday in British Columbia and will establish it as a statutory holiday under ...

In Oostlander v Cervus Equipment Corporation, 2023 ABCA 13 the Alberta Court of Appeal (“ABCA”) confirmed that payments received under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program (“CERB”) cannot be deducted from damages awarded for wrongful dismissal.

The ABCA was greatly persuaded by the decision in Yates v Langley Motor Sport Centre Ltd, 2022 BCCA 398^[1]

It’s hard for me to take off the labour and employment lawyer hat. I view everything through a certain lens. 

Even as an avid Royal watcher, I was initially quite critical of Prince Harry and thought of him as a disgruntled employee who had quit his job, yet strangely thought he should retain his salary and benefits. Then, as I read his memoir “Spare” I considered what an ...

If revising your employment and independent contractor agreements is on the “to do” list for 2023, the recent case of Quick Pass Master Tutorial School Ltd. v Zhao, 2022 BCSC 1846 is a good reminder to review any restrictive covenants in those agreements. The law in this area is always evolving and restrictive covenants can be difficult to enforce without careful ...

In Yates v. Langley Motor Sport Centre Ltd., 2022 BCCA 398 the British Columbia Court of Appeal (“BCAA”) recently resolved much of the uncertainty surrounding whether or not payments received under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program (“CERB”) could be deducted from damages awarded for wrongful dismissal.

The BCCA unanimously held that CERB payments ...

On November 24, 2022, Bill 41, the Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act, 2022 (the “WCA Amendments”), received Royal Assent.

As we previously reported, the WCA Amendments impose new obligations on BC employers in respect of the return of injured workers to their job. These employers will have a new statutory duty to return injured workers to their pre-injury work or ...

In our earlier blog post, we provided an overview of the new paid medical leave provisions for federally regulated employees, which are coming into force on December 1, 2022. The new provisions will entitle such employees to up to 10 days of paid medical leave per calendar year.

Initially, the amendments to the Canada Labour Code permitted the Federal Government to apply the ...

On October 31, 2022, the B.C. government introduced Bill 41 – 2022: Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act (No. 2), 2022 (the “WCA Amendments”) proposing changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act (the “WCA”). The intent behind the WCA Amendments is to bring in a more “worker-centred” approach to B.C.’s workers’ compensation system. Below we discuss ...

In the recent decision of Parmar v. Tribe Management Inc., 2022 BCSC 1675, the BC Supreme Court held that placing an employee on unpaid leave because they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine did not amount to constructive dismissal. This case is one of the first civil court decisions in Canada that considered the validity of mandatory vaccination policies where employees ...

In 2018, after several years of working at Buzzfeed, Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang started 2^nd Try, LLC (“2^nd Try”). 2^nd Try is a California production company, created and managed by the four individuals (a.k.a. the “Try Guys”). The Try Guys produced and starred in original video content wherein – you guessed it – they try ...